Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In the first half of the exhibition season this year, left-hander Andy Oliver pitched well enough to become the apparent front-runner for the Tigers’ rotation vacancy.

Little has gone well for Oliver since, and today at the winter meetings, the Tigers traded him to the Pirates for minor-league catcher Ramon Cabrera.

Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said Cabrera isn’t a candidate to challenge Bryan Holaday for the No. 2 catching job on the Opening Day big-league team.

After he fell from the competition for the Tigers rotation, Oliver faltered at Triple-A Toledo and the Tigers tried him in the bullpen. He made 19 starts and nine relief appearances for the Mud Hens.

Oliver finished 5-9 overall with a 4.88 ERA, and he never got called up to Detroit.

“We thought that perhaps a change of scenery would not be bad for him,” Dombrowski said. “We couldn’t get him to throw strikes on a consistent basis. If he does, with his arm, he has a chance to be a very fine pitcher.”

Oliver turned 25 this week. Not long ago, he was in Baseball America’s top 100 prospects for all major-league teams. In his big-league stints in 2010-11, he was 3-for-7 in quality starts.

Cabrera, 23, played last season primarily in Double-A. He hit .276 with three homers. In 2011, he won the Florida State League batting title with a .343 average.

“We think he’s a prospect,” Dombrowski said. “He gives us some more catching depth, (something) we feel we never have enough of. They had some catching depth; we had some left-handed pitching depth.”

COACHING CHANGES: Manager Jim Leyland expanded on his Tuesday announcement that Tom Brookens would replace Gene Lamont as the third-base coach and that Lamont would take over as bench coach, a position Leyland hasn’t previously had on his Detroit staff. Leyland said the genesis of the change was the condition of Lamont’s knees.

“He’s had a knee operation,” Leyland said. “Sometimes it flares up on him a little bit. It’s getting where it’s bone-on-bone. It’s a little tough for him. (Gene) is a great baseball mind. He’ll be really good for me as well on the bench.”